Atrus
Atrus is the main character of the Myst series (though not the character that you control) as well as the book series. He is, and has always been, played by Rand Miller. Life History Early Years Atrus was born to Gehn and Keta. However, his mother died while giving birth to him and Gehn abandoned him with his grandmother, Anna, shortly after his birth, not even bothering to name him. Atrus stayed with Anna, living in a cleft in the side of a volcano in the desert, until he was thirteen years old. Anna taught him much during his brief stay, including the D'ni language, D'ni stories, and how to look at The Whole. Teen Years Gehn came back to the cleft when Atrus was thirteen and took the boy from his granmother. He led Atrus down into the underground D'ni capital, living on the island of K'veer. Here he taught Atrus to Write. By the end of his teen years, Atrus came to realize that Gehn was a madman. Catherine, who later became his wife, and Anna helped to trap Gehn on his Fifth Age, also known as Riven, and the family escaped to an Age Catherine and Ti'ana had written: Myst. Sirrus and Achenar Atrus fathered Sirrus and Achenar on the Myst (island), but never taught them to Write. Seeing all the rich worlds Atrus wrote, just waiting to be exploited, Sirrus and Achenar grew greedy, plundering the Ages, eventually trapping themselves in their own greed by linking to Atrus' prison Ages, Haven and Spire. Tomahna and Yeesha Perhaps because Myst was becoming unlivable, perhaps because of the trouble of his sons, Atrus wrote another Age, Tomahna, to be their home. Here he fathered his daughter, Yeesha, and taught her to Write. It was from Tomahna that Atrus wrote Reeleeshan to be D'ni's new home. Later Years Atrus lived out his old age and finally came to his death on Reeleeshan. In Games * The first game begins with Atrus imprisoned in D'ni. He has left a message for his wife, Catherine, telling her of the destruction of his Library by their sons, Sirrus and Achenar. He is released if the player brings him the final page of the Linking Book he can use to escape. * In Riven, he instructs the player to link to Riven in order to save Catherine from his father, Gehn. * In Myst III: Exile Atrus invites you to his home in Tomahna to join him to view the Reeleeshan Age that he has written for the future home of the D'ni, leaving you present when an intruder, Saavedro, breaks in to Atrus' home, stealing the Reeleeshan book. Exile then leads you through six Ages written by Atrus to teach his sons about the way different elements in nature to prepare them for the Art of writing Ages. * In Myst IV: Revelation Atrus once again invites you to Tomahna, this time to help him with a dillema involving his sons, Sirrus and Achenar, still trapped in their prison books from the original Myst game. * In the final two games of the series, Uru: The Ages Beyond Myst and Myst V: End of Ages, Atrus does not make an appearance. In Books * Atrus plays the central character in the Book of Atrus, the prequel to the original Myst game. This book shows Atrus growing up, first in the Cleft with his grandmother, then as he learns to write Ages with his father. * He makes no appearance in the second book, the Book of Ti'ana, a prequel to Myst: The Book of Atrus, which takes place before Atrus is born. (Atrus, son of Gehn, is not to be confused with Aitrus, father of Gehn.) * Again, he plays the central role in the Book of D'ni as he sets forth in an attempt to rebuild D'ni. In the course of doing so, the D'ni come across a vast Age with ancient connections to the D'ni.